


Building Bridges To Better Things

by ImogenSmiley



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 52 Week Oneshot Challenge, Crushing, Lance is pining, Leaving, M/M, Moving On, One-Sided Keith/Lance (Voltron), Oneshot, Pining, Post VLD season 8, Post-Canon, What Happened Next, broken hearted, life goes on - Freeform, one-sided
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:34:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22806409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImogenSmiley/pseuds/ImogenSmiley
Summary: Sometimes, things don't work out, and sometimes you just have to work out how to deal with them.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Kudos: 19





	Building Bridges To Better Things

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! Another Wednesday has rolled around way too soon, but I have just about managed to bang out another oneshot. I am excited to share one for a concept I have been mulling over since VLD finished and oh my gosh, I couldn't escape it anymore. I just had to write it down, even though the Voltron fandom isn't active anymore and the ending of the series was...not the best.   
> Regardless, I hope you enjoy my interpretation and this oneshot!

He didn’t have to say it, but he did. It seemed like such a straightforward question, after all, Krolia and the dwindling numbers of the Blade really did need all of the help they could get whilst trying to help refugees and establish peace in the newly liberated and freed Galra Empire. Lance knew that, he knew all of that, but still, there was a part of him, deep down, that wanted him to forget it. Forget it all.

“You want to stay with the Blade of Marmora, don’t you?”

Keith paused, grinding his teeth. He frowned to himself and turned away from Lance. He balled a fist and nodded slowly.

“I think, I think that going back to the Blade of Marmora is the best thing for me, Lance. Is there really anything for me here?”

Lance paused, balling a fist and turning away from Keith, “Apparently.”

Perhaps it was wrong to feel so sour; after all, after over a decade in the foster system, finally being able to connect with his mother was a scenario he had never anticipated, especially however million lightyears away they had been. Maybe it was wrong to put their budding romance up against something as strong as his yearning for his mother’s love and acceptance, but there he was, doing so. Even if it was subtly.

And Lance felt terrible. But even still, he couldn’t make himself turn back. He could apologise later.

.

Earth was such a beautiful planet, even in a state of ruin, there was so much to marvel at; the miscellaneous mishmash of architecture as it crumbled at their feet was marvellous. There was something so beautiful in the decadence. So much had been lost, and yet, the aftermath wasn’t like the nightmarish things he had seen when he was still in school. He wondered if that was what came from being so homesick, that even a warzone seems more inviting than the cold embrace of space.

He missed the uneven paving on the street that led to the garrison, how in childhood, he would gawk up at the gates and wonder what amazing advances were being made behind their closed doors. Did magic exist when there was something as brilliant as science in their midst? Or was magic just another name for science?

Even after all of those years amongst the stars, traversing hundreds of galaxies and learning of eons of history as he made his way through star systems in search of a way to return home whilst serving his purpose. He was only part of Voltron out of convenience, right? This had nothing to do with the hands of fate and destiny ensnaring him, right?

Wrong.

Even when they didn’t, all roads seemed to lead to him; to Keith. To the older, smarter, swifter. Keith Kogane. Hot-headed favourite of Takashi Shirogane. There was so much he wanted to say to him in the beginning. Mostly curses, swears and foul words. He loathed the way this boy managed to just excel at everything, no matter what. There was no hesitation, he’d just dive in and somehow manage to execute everything well. Even when things didn’t go to plan, he managed to make something work. It was a quality he’d always envied, and later grew to admire.

Sure, the pair had grown close, they learned to trust and fall back on each other’s strengths to compensate for their own weaknesses. Their bond was strong and it was something that was unique to them. They were friends, a different kind of bond to the one he shared with the other members of his team, but special.

It was when he left that he realised that maybe the feelings he had for his friend were not uniquely platonic. Maybe they were something else. Maybe that was okay, but it certainly meant that he missed him a lot more.

When he came back after everything it was like his brain and body exploded, suddenly Keith was older, taller, more muscular and he was suddenly much more self-assured. He would later explain what happened on their mission, and how to them, three years had passed, when for the rest of the team it had been mere months.

Keith was suddenly the leader the team needed, and Lance couldn’t deny he was happy to see him.

But suddenly, after everything, he was just going to leave? The universe really was a cruel, heartless, thing. If there was someone out there, rooting for him, he would have preferred Keith on a silver platter. He didn’t want to deal with him going again, but knew that if the older boy was really going to head off back to space, there really was nothing he could possibly do to stop him.

And perhaps, he would have to build the planet back up from its decaying state without him.


End file.
